Rail-joint



' (Non/Lodel.)

' M. C. NILES.

RAIL JOINT.

Patented Apr. 9, 1895.

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UNITED STATES.

,PATENT MILTON O; NILES, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

RAI L-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters .'Patent No. 537,064, dated April. 9, 1895.

Application iiled November 26,1894. Serial No. 529,969. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

v- Be it known that I, MILTON G.N1Lns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have -invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of whichv the following is a full,'clear, and exact specificalon.

This invention relates to that class of rail joints in which the rails are clamped by pressure upon the upper and lower sides of the foot flanges, induced by the inward movement of a side lever platefsuch for instance as that shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 529,044, issued to me November 13, 1894, to which reference may be had for described nature, to hold the heads of the rails f against independent side iexure; and a still further object of this invention` is to cause one ofv the otherwise essential'parts of the joint to close the space between the rails and the side lever plate, instead of employing a separate piece for this purpose as heretofore.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts by which the said objects and certain other objects hereinafter appearing, are accomplished, all as fully explained with reference to the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is an end elevation of my improved joint showing the parts tightened upon the rail, and' Fig. 2 is a similar -view thereof showing the parts in the position they occupy before being tightened.

vIn Vmy said prior invention the lowe1 edge of the inclined clamping plate was held against inward movement by the rail webs My present inven-` while the upper edge of such plate stood off from the rails and engaged under an overhanging lip or flange on the side lever plate, which latter, when moving inward, effected the clamping of the rails between the clamping plate and the bed or base plate by reason lof the inward tilting of lthe clamping plate; ybut in" my present 'invention I hold the inclined clamping plate 1 against inward movementat its upper edge as well as at its lower edge, so that the` side lever plate 2 will move relatively to'the plate 1. Y

The side lever plate 2 is provided as heretofore at its upper edge with an inwardlypro- .jecting flange 3, which engages over and is supported upon the upper edge of the clamp ing plate l, but in mypresent invention at least one of the engaging faces of these parts 1 and 3 is formed onf an 'upward incline or bevel whereby the inward movement of the side lever plate 2 will also induce an upward pressure of the bed or base plate 4 throughout the transverse extent of the foot flanges 5 of the rails; and at the same time of course, pressing the clamping plate 1 downwardly against such foot iianges as well as inward against the webs 6; thus at one and the same time holding the rails against independent Vertical and independent side or lateral movement. In practice I prefer to form the en gaging faces of the parts 1 and 3 on complementary bevels 7 to insure better bearing for the sidelever plate 2 and reduce the friction to a minimum, but it will of course be understood nevertheless, that substantially the same result might be accomplished by beveling but one of the said parts.

The clam ping plate 1 is preferably arranged in an inclined position as shown and is held against inward movement at its lower edge by being braced against the webs of the rails while its upper edge is preferably provided with an inward extension 8 which rests against the rail and thus prevents the inward movement of the plate 1 at its upper edge, and this extension 8 is preferably brought to bear vagainst the heads of the rail for theltwo-fold purpose of holding the heads of the rails against any independent side llexure that ,n might result from a'thrust of the wheel flanges in rounding the curve or at other points, and for closing the space which exists between the flange 3 and the heads 9 of the rails, it being claimed by those skilled in the art that when such space is left open; sand, sleet and gravel collect between the rails and the joint and render it objectionable.

The lower edge of the plate 1 is provided with an outwardly extending foot piece 10 which rests upon the foot flanges 5 of the rail and which is of sufficient outward extension to project beyond the center of gravity of the clamping plate 1, andthus hold such plate in its proper position while the side lever plate with its base plate fl isbeing fitted to the rail.

lith a rail joint thus constructed it will be seen that even though the thickness of the foot flanges 5 should vary in the dierent rails, the parts of the joints may nevertheless be accurately fitted to such rails, for it is obvious that any variation in the thickness ot such flanges will simply result in variation of the extent to which the bevel flange 3 overlaps the edge of the clamping plate 1, and even though the flange 3 may overlap more in one instance than in another the joint may nevertheless be tightened up with sufcient pressure so long as such flange has any bearing whatever upon the plate 1.

It will also be seen that the plate 2 acts as a lever and swings the base plate upward against the rail flanges and produces a clam ping effect in this way in addition to the clamping effect induced by the flange 3 sliding up the inclined edge of the plate 1, for it will be observed that inasmuch as the lower edge of the plate 2 is normally out of Contact with the edge ofthe rail flanges, such lower edge of' the plate 2 will have a tendency to move inward under the pressure of the horizontal bolts l1 when the inward movement of the flange 3 ceases.

A rail joint thus constructed and being provided with anysuitablenurnberof the horizontal tightening bolts 11 which pass through the webs of the rails and the plates 1 and 2 is complete and operative, but for the sake of adding greater strengthI prefer to employ on the opposite side of the rails an ordinary fish plate 12 through which the bolts 11 also pass and which is provided along its lower edge with a horizontal extension 13 which supports the nuts of vertical bolts 14 whoseheads engage under the protruding edge of the base or bed plate 4, and thus hold such edge against therail flanges with greater security. The extensions 13 are preferably turned upward slightly on an incline when in their nor mal condition in order to lock the nuts l5 when the latter are screwed down.

While I have been particular to describe, as a desirable feature of my invention, that the base or lower edge of the plate 2 stands normally away from the edges of the flanges 5, I nevertheless wish it understood that myI invention is notlimited to this particular arrangement for it is obvious that even if such plate 2 should strike the flange 5 the device would nevertheless be capable of' further tightening providing the elasticity of the metal at the junction of the parts 2 and 4 is such as to permit the flange3to moveinward under the pressure of the bolts 1l.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of aside lever plate having an inwardly extending flange and a base plate or flange engaging under the rails, a clamping plate interposed between the rails and said side lever plate and held againstinward movement,and the upper edge ot' said clamping plate and said inwardly extending flange being in engagement with each other and one being beveled orinclined, whereby inward movement of the lever plate will induce upward movement of said base flange, and means for forcing said lever plate toward the clamping plate, substantially as set forth.

2. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of a side lever plate having an inwardly extending flange and a base plate or flange engaging under the rails, a clamping plate held against inward movement interposed between the rails and said side lever plate and resting upon the foot flanges of the rails, the upper edge of said clamping plate and the said in wardly extending flange being in engagement and formed on complementary bevels or inclines, and means for forcing the lever plate toward said clamping plate, substantially as set forth.

3. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of a side lever plate having an inwardly extending flange and abase plate or flange engaging under the rails, a clamping plate interposed between the rails and said side lever plate and having its upper and lower edges held by the rails against inward movement, and the upper edge of' said clamping plate and said inwardly extending flange being in engagement with each other and one of them being beveled or inclined, whereby inward movement of the lever plate will also induce upward movement ot' said base plate, and means for forcing said lever plate toward the clamping plate, substantially as set forth.

4. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, ot a side lever plate having an inwardly extending flange and a base plate or flange engaging under the rails, a clamping plate interposed between the rails and said side lever plate and having a portion resting against and bracing the rails near their upper sides, and the upper edge of said clamping plate and said inwardly extending flange being in engagement with each other and one of them being beveled or inclined, whereby inward movement of the lever plate will also induce upward movement of said base plate, and means for forcing said lever plate toward the clamping plate, substantially as set forth.

5. In a rail joint, the combination with the rails, of a side lever plate having an inwardly IOO extending llange and a base plate or liange engaging under the rails, of a clamping plate interposed between the rails and said side lever plate and having a portion projecting from `the edge of the lever plate to the heads of the rails and closing the space between such plate and heads, and the upper edge of said clamping plate and said inwardly extending plate interposed between the Vrails and said lever plate andv resting upon the foot flanges of the rails, the upper edge of said clamping plate and the said inwardly extending flange being in engagementand formed on complementary bevels or inclines, the upper edge of said clamping plate having an extension resting against the heads of the rails, and the lower edge of said clamping plate having a foot held against inward movement and extending outward beyond the center of gravity of said clamping plate, and means for forcing the leve;l plate toward said clamping plate, substantially as set forth.

MILTON C. NILES.

Witnesses:

F. A. HorKINs, EDNA B. JOHNSON. 

